Will Diego Costa be back in the Premier League for the 2019/20 season? The former Chelsea man has reportedly been told that he can leave Atletico Madrid on loan. In the last week there have been rumours that he is on the move with Wolves being the 13/10 favourites currently to land the Spaniard* (betting odds taken from Sky Bet on July 13th, 2019 at 9:17 pm)
Diego Costa Next Club Odds*
Wolves 13/10
Everton 5/2
West Ham 6/1
Inter Milan 33/1
Manchester United 40/1
* (betting odds taken from Sky Bet on July 13th, 2019 at 9:17 pm)
Atletico return doesn’t quite work out
Costa found himself back at Atletico Madrid in January 2018 after falling out with Chelsea when then Blues boss Antonio Conte told him that he was no longer wanted at the London club. During his time with the Premier League club, he scored 62 goals in 89 appearances and he was known for mixing it up. He is not a player who is afraid to get a bit physical when needs must.
He has always come across as a bit of a volatile player. When he went back to Atletico, the goalscoring form of strike partner Antoine Griezmann went up, just because Costa caused defences so many distractions. However, with just five goals in 31 games for Atletico since his return, it hasn’t been the dream move back for him. In his first spell with the club, Costa scored 43 goals in 94 games.
Disciplinary problems
Anyone who picks him up will likely be prepared for him to be missing games through suspension. Costa was dealt an eight-match ban in April 2019 for the abuse of a referee. In his first league game back on his return to Atletico, he was sent off. But the physical presence that he will bring, does have its assets. Would he be a good fit for Wolves, to add something different to a team which likes to play free-flowing football on the deck? The club has splashed a bit of cash around since their return to the top flight, and do have a European campaign to look forward to as they start in the UEFA Europa League second qualifying round.
Toffees targeting Costa?
One of the first reports of a Premier League club being linked with Costa was Everton. Everton are generally a club who leans towards singing younger players for development, but have actually been linked strongly with him. The Toffees were short up front last season and would be getting a player with a proven track record to help out. West Ham are another of the English Premier League sides to reportedly have interest in the Spaniard, and they have just lost Marko Arnautovic to China so there’s room for Costa at the London club.
Inter Milan, who are being linked with just about everyone at the moment is also on the list. So too Manchester United. There seems to be a little uncertainty over the future of Romelu Lukaku at the club and if he were to depart (which doesn’t seem too likely at the moment), Costa wouldn’t be a bad stop-gap for the club and would put a bit of fire in their belly. However, is he even going to be heading out from the Metropolitano at all?
Griezmann departure clouds the picture
At the end of last week, Barcelona announced the signing of Atleti forward Antoine Greizmann. It was the worst kept secret of the summer transfer action really. So Atletico boss Diego Simeone has the option of now keeping Costa and building the attack around him, instead of having to go shopping. Losing Costa too would leave Atleti with some holes to fill up front.
